Many changes are taking place in the way wireless communication networks are being deployed. Some of the changes are being driven by the adoption of new mobile communications standards. The introduction of software defined radios to wireless telecommunications has led to the generation of software and hardware solutions to meet the new standards.
A software defined radio (SDR) uses software for the modulation and demodulation of radio signals. The use of reprogrammable software allows key radio parameters, such as frequency and modulation protocols to be modified without the need to alter the underlying hardware of the system. Additionally, SDRs allow a single device to support multiple configurations which previously would have required multiple hardware devices. One example of a software defined radio is the Vanu Software Radio produced by Vanu, Inc. (See U.S. Pat. No. 6,654,428).
Current mobile communication standards introduce physical and logical channels and pose new issues in the transport of information within the communication networks. Some modulation protocols that wireless communication networks operate with include, but are not limited to, Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), code division multiple access (CDMA), Wide-band CDMA (WCDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).
One problem presented by these multiple standards is the expenses associated with operating and maintaining hardware dedicated to each standard. Another problem experience with dense wireless communication networks is co-channel inference. This means that phone calls are interfered with by another site operating on the same physical channel and time slot. Solutions to co-channel interference include frequency hopping that moves calls from slot to slot and frequency to frequency within a band. Frequency hopping also enhances the capacity of communications networks by allowing more calls in the same RF spectrum. Further, frequency hopping provides security against illegal call intercepts. New wireless communications standards define frequency hopping and also present algorithms for base stations to support frequency hopping in order to reduce interference.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below that will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the telecommunications industry for communications network systems and methods that are modulation standard independent and can support dynamic frequency hopping.